One day at a time!!

Derrinda Jo had her last day of school on Tuesday, June 12th and she has graduated with her associate degree. She didn't walk with her class because of previous conflicts but she is half way there. Now she has the summer off and will start in again this fall. We are so proud of Derrinda and what she has accomplished while being a single Mom and burning the candle at both ends. I just don't know how she has done all of this and kept her sanity!! A job well done Derrinda! I will post some pix as I get them from her in her cap and gown. Much love to our newest college graduate!! Oh yes- I got the pictures so here are some of Derrinda Jo Stone in her cap and gown! Great job Derrinda!

Pierce College 2018 graduate!

94 out of 100 on her big final! Great job Derrinda Jo!!

Desi and Haven Marinelli

Cody's thoughts are certainly on a certainn young lady that will be at the 8th grade dance!

Cody and his "friend" at the 8th grade dance.

Our baseball player, Elijah Adam Stone

Elijah receives his baseball award at his banquet. Good job Elijah!

Denny has had a good Father's Day today! Our children love their Daddy so much and always try to be the first one to call on any birthday or occasion! They are just too cute! He received several nice gifts, phone calls and got so many compliments on his tie that he got from Haven last year. Denny had to conduct in Sacrament meeting today and he sure looked sharp. I made him blueberry pancakes and eggs after church and made him an applesauce dessert. He also had his nice fishing trip so I would say that it was a pretty good Father's Day for him. I am so grateful for the love that Denny has for each of his children and grandchildren. I know that he has always tried to be a good example to them and I pray that they each know how much he loves them, wants the best for them and would do whatever he could to help them. Denny is a pretty good example of patience and unconditional love also. I wish that I had his patience and easy going manner. He has such a big heart and just wants to be friends with everyone that he meets and will help anyone who needs help. He is my rock and I love him so much as do his children and grandchildren. Thanks for always being there for us and loving us and being such a great support for our family. We love you and wish you the best Father's Day ever!!

A beard grooming kit from Derek. Denny is starting to grow his beard back tomorrow.

Fishing hat from Haven.

A Father and daughter Willow Tree piece to add to our collection. This was from Desi.

A beautiful card from Derrinda Jo. She gave Den a nice book with the results of his DNA test all printed up.

Beard grooming kit from Derek

A very Happy Father's Day to all of the Father's out there! I knew that this was going to be a difficult one for me since this is the first Father's Day without my dear Father who passed away in January. It has been five months now and I still can't believe that he is gone. As the talks were given in church today on Fathers and the many things that we can learn from our Dads, I couldn't help but ponder on the things that I learned from my Dad. First of all, he had a strong testimony of the Gospel and he always desired for each of his family members to be active and strong in the church. I know how happy he must have been when we got to be in the temple with all four of his children several years ago and I pray that Den and I are able to do that someday too. It is my ultimate goal to be able to walk through the temple doors with all of my family and know that we are worthy of the blessings of being sealed together as a family. I love my family so much and I am so grateful for the knowledge that Dad and Mom are together and that someday we will all be one reunited and happy family once again. My Dad taught us to work hard! We may not have been the richest growing up, but I knew that we had the things that we needed and Dad was always working hard physical labor to provide for us. We knew that he loved us and that he loved our Mom and that family is the most important possession that we have. He has always been there for us and our families and I know that he is always still close by. Dad has such unconditional love for each of us and I am so grateful for that. He never berated us or ever made us feel like we couldn't accomplish what was out there for us to do. We love you Dad, we miss you and will continue to try and make you proud of us! Happy Father's Day!!

Robert Lee Myer

Mom and Dad together again!

Robert Lee Myer with Phil, Lisa, Curtis and Debbie

Another important Father in our lives is Denny's Dad, Cecil Walter Cooper! We always enjoyed our time with him and it is hard to believe that he has been gone for 26 years. He was also an example of hard work and love for his family. Our children do have some wonderful memories with their Grandpa Cooper for which I will always be grateful. Someday they will have that chance to really get to know him again. We love you and miss you Dad Cooper!! Happy Father's Day!

Cecil Walter Cooper in his younger years! See where my Denny got his good looks?!!

Cecil Walter Cooper

While Denny was gone fishing I spent hours and hours on family history work. We have been working on his line for over 25 years and I have never been able to find anything to pull this puzzle together. About two months ago I found a marriage license on Ancestry.com and we found out that Denny's Grandpa, William Cooper was actually born William McCallister and adopted by a John Cooper. Oh great! Where do we start now? I have been quite frustrated with all of this and nothing was making any sense before, but this starting opening up some possibilities as to why I have not been able to find any birth information on William Cooper's parents. All that we had for any information was that William's parents were Jonathan and Mary. We went to Humbolt, Richardson Co., Nebraska where William was born and couldn't find anything to help us. This last week while Den was fishing I just had the strongest feeling to work on his line again and I found what may be the missing link to all of this. I found a picture of a "Willie Cooper" who was taken in by an uncle John Cooper which would all make sense. All of the info seems to work and now I need to find out which one of his sister's was the Mom of William. This is what is really throwing me for a loop now, but I will not give up. Hopefully I can pull all of this together and make sense of it. I will keep everyone posted. If all of this is correct, then at least our family still has Cooper blood in their veins. I want to post the picture on here and this "Grandpa Willie" looks so much like my Denny and I just don't have any doubt that this is his Grandpa.

Marriage license of Denny's grandparents, William Cooper and Iva Davis

Can you see the resemblance??

Denny was asked by Darrus Rasmussen last Tuesday to go fishing with him up at Otter Creek Reservoir and Denny was absolutely thrilled. He was able to pick up a fishing license for three days and they left on Wednesday, June 13th and came home on Friday afternoon. They caught lots of fish and Denny also got a royal sunburn. He had on a hat, but when you are out on the lake and it is hot, you still can get burned. He sure did enjoy his time though and I am so glad that he got to go fishing. Here are a couple of pictures from their big adventure!

The guy who took the pictures accidentally had it on video so I just took a screenshot. Excuse the arrow! LOL

Derek was here for a few days, but most of the time he was busy helping his friends move into their new home. We did have time on Saturday, June 9th, to do a few things so we went up to the Cactus Garden and walked around the red hills. Denny and I were not quite as adventurous as Derek was. We got some fun pictures and then we went down on Temple Square where we took some more pictures. There is so much that we would like to show Derek, but there is just never enough time. Hopefully he will get down here again before we leave and we can show him more of the sights. It was fun to have him if even for a short time!

Derek and his Daddy Dennis

Derek is off and running

King of the mountain (or small red hill)

My silly hubby, Dennis Lee Cooper

This is the picture that he wanted me to get!

What a strong man I am married to!!

Beautiful St. George, Utah LDS Temple

Love the palm trees

Some of the flowers on Temple Square in St. George, Utah

Denny worked hard trying to get the hard water build up off of his Dad's headstone. Gotta try something better!